The Evernote team has made some questionable decisions over the last few years, and these changes aren’t likely to sit well with its users, paid or otherwise.– JEFF BENJAMIN @ 9TO5MAC.COM

For those that have been using Evernote for years without paying, today’s changes are surely to sting a bit.– DAN SEIFERT @ THEVERGE.COM

It’s probably worth noting here that cloud services like Evernote, Google Drive, Flickr, Dropbox, and iCloud are so new that we have yet to see what maturity of the industry looks like. So rather than take up pitchforks and torches at each inevitable feature and business model change (and there are more coming, for sure), it might be more useful to take a step back and consider our options for data organization, storage, and protection.

Back in 2007, I had a paranoid vision of a future where some third party business would own my personal data, and I would have to rent it from them at prices they set, with limits and accessibility changing based on their business goals. Worse than Big Brother, this would be the monetization and restriction of everything I had collected and created. Yikes! So I bought an expensive 12TB RAID (which I expanded to 20TB) and started stockpiling all my data – pictures, videos, writing, artwork, music, movies, fonts… everything I wanted to make sure I could access when the cloud would try to take it away. As cloud services have evolved over the years, it seems as though my paranoia is starting to become justified (or maybe my paranoia has evolved?)

So I was ecstatic when I joined the team at Mylio to help tell the world about this app that can accomplish the same objective as my expensive RAID, but using devices I already had. Mylio turns all your macOS, iOS, Windows and Android devices into a peer-to-peer network, giving you access on all your devices, and ensuring that original files are protected by being replicated in more than one location.

Mylio does have a cloud service for premium users, though it’s optional, and designed mostly to make sure your devices can sync when on different networks. Still gotta have cloud storage? Then you’ll be interested to hear that a ‘Bring your own Cloud‘ option is coming soon where you can plug your own third party cloud service into Mylio.

So wait: why wouldn’t a Mylio bring-your-own-cloud solution make your data just as vulnerable to service changes as Flickr and Evernote users?

Because those services use their servers (aka ‘the cloud’) as primary storage for your data, and you pay them to access it. Mylio, on the other hand, uses your own hardware to store your data, and will treat your cloud storage (which Mylio doesn’t own) like any other device on your network. And it’s designed to ensure that anything in that cloud is also locally stored on at least one more hardware device. So files are right there on your own hardware (and, optionally in the cloud), in a file system you can navigate with your desktop OS just like any other.

And why wouldn’t a bring-your-own-cloud feature be as vulnerable to hacking as, say, iCloud has been in the past? (“I don’t touch iCloud,” actor Tom Hardy has said. “I’ve been advised not to by security specialists and analysts.”) Because Mylio will encrypt any data associated with it in the cloud.

The bottom line: with Mylio, you get the peace of mind that you own and control your own data. And no change in service can take that away from you.

AUTHOR:

Osiris is Mylio's Marketing Magus, developing digital communication systems designed to support a thriving Mylio user community. He is a new father, a music producer, and an avid student of the human ability to progress toward awesomeness. More at osirisindriya.com